The receiving line was fitting on the day Ganassi was crowned king of the world’s most famous racetrack. But it formed as he strolled the front straightaway hours before his driver, Scott Dixon, won the Indianapolis 500 on May 25.
“Brian and Tony could talk to anyone they want, but I was a familiar face,” Ganassi says, “and I guess everyone likes to be around winners.”
Ganassi remains a respected force with drivers, sponsors and power brokers because his teams continue to win, albeit outside NASCAR’s premier series.
“Our strategy obviously works in the other two series,” says Ganassi, 50, who has four Indy 500 winners (Dixon, Wheldon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti) under contract. “We just need to apply that to NASCAR.”
“Sometimes it gets to be a little much, but it’s like The Godfather where Hyman Roth says, ‘This is the business we’ve chosen,’ ” Ganassi says. “On one hand, I’m a workaholic, but on the other, I’ve never worked a day in my life. I love the business and everything about it.”
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